Optical microrobotics is an emerging field that has the potential to improve upon current optical tweezer studies through avenues such as limiting the exposure of biological molecules of interest to laser radiation and overcoming the current limitations of low forces and unwanted interactions between nearby optical traps. However, optical microrobotics has been historically limited to rigid, single-body end-effectors rather than even simple machines, limiting the tasks that can be performed. Additionally, while multi-body machines such as microlevers exist in the literature, they have not yet been successfully demonstrated as tools for biological studies, such as molecule stretching. In this work we have taken a step towards moving the field forward by developing two types of microlever, produced using two-photon absorption polymerisation, to perform the first lever-assisted stretches of double-stranded DNA. The aim of the work is to provide a proof of concept for using optical micromachines for single molecule studies. Both styles of microlevers were successfully used to stretch single duplexes of DNA, and the results were analysed with the worm-like chain model to show that they were in good agreement.

中文翻译：

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光学微杠杆辅助 DNA 拉伸

光学微型机器人是一个新兴领域，它有可能通过限制感兴趣的生物分子暴露于激光辐射和克服当前低力的限制和附近光阱之间不需要的相互作用等途径来改进当前的光镊研究。然而，光学微型机器人在历史上一直仅限于刚性的单体末端执行器，而不是简单的机器，这限制了可以执行的任务。此外，虽然文献中存在诸如微杠杆之类的多体机器，但它们尚未被成功地证明为用于生物学研究的工具，例如分子拉伸。在这项工作中，我们通过开发两种使用双光子吸收聚合生产的微杠杆，朝着推动该领域前进的方向迈出了一步，执行第一个杠杆辅助的双链 DNA 延伸。这项工作的目的是为使用光学微型机器进行单分子研究提供概念证明。两种类型的微杠杆都成功地用于拉伸 DNA 的单个双链体，并用蠕虫状链模型分析结果表明它们非常吻合。